[Senate Report 111-100]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]


                                                       Calendar No. 218
111th Congress                                                   Report
                                 SENATE
 1st Session                                                    111-100

======================================================================



 
START I TREATY INSPECTIONS AND MONITORING PROTOCOL CONTINUATION ACT OF 
                                  2009

                                _______
                                

               November 20, 2009.--Ordered to be printed

                                _______
                                

          Mr. Kerry, from the Committee on Foreign Relations,
                        submitted the following

                                 REPORT

                         [To accompany S. 2727]

    The Committee on Foreign Relations, having had under 
consideration the bill S. 2727 to provide for continued 
application of arrangements under the Protocol on Inspections 
and Continuous Monitoring Activities Relating to the Treaty 
Between the United States of America and the Union of Soviet 
Socialist Republics on the Reduction and Limitation of 
Strategic Offensive Arms in the period following the Protocol's 
termination on December 5, 2009, reports favorably thereon and 
recommends that the bill do pass.

                                CONTENTS

                                                                   Page

  I. Purpose..........................................................1
 II. Committee Action.................................................2
III. Discussion.......................................................2
 IV. Cost Estimate....................................................3
  V. Evaluation of Regulatory Impact..................................3
 VI. Changes in Existing Law..........................................3

                               I. Purpose

    The purpose of the START I Treaty Inspections and 
Monitoring Protocol Continuation Act of 2009 is to authorize 
the President to accord to eligible officials of the Russian 
Federation the privileges and immunities provided for in 
Article II, paragraph 7, of the Protocol on Inspections and 
Continuous Monitoring Activities Relating to the Treaty Between 
the United States of America and the Union of Soviet Socialist 
Republics on the Reduction and Limitation of Strategic 
Offensive Arms, signed at Moscow July 31, 1991, in the period 
following the treaty's termination on December 5, 2009, in 
order to facilitate the continued application in the United 
States of the arrangements provided for in the protocol.

                          II. Committee Action

    Senator Lugar introduced S. 2727 on November 4, 2009. By 
voice vote on November 17, 2009, the committee ordered that S. 
2727 be reported favorably.

                            III. Discussion

    The Treaty between the United States of America and the 
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics on the Reduction and 
Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms (START, or START I), 
signed at Moscow on July 31, 1991, will expire on December 5, 
2009. U.S. and Russian negotiators have been working to 
finalize a successor agreement to START, with the intention of 
completing negotiations by December 5. It is unlikely, however, 
that a new treaty would be transmitted to the Senate, receive 
Senate approval, and enter into force until well into 2010.\1\ 
Accordingly, the period between the December 5, 2009, 
termination date for START and the date of entry into force of 
a new treaty could represent a significant break in the long-
established verification and confidence-building procedures 
under START.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \1\For comparison, although START was signed on July 31, 1991, the 
President did not submit the treaty to the Senate until November of 
that year.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    The United States has been negotiating a ``bridging 
arrangement'' with the Russian Federation for the interim 
period between START's expiration and the time a new treaty can 
be brought into force. S. 2727 is not intended to conflict with 
any such bridging arrangement; rather, it merely provides a 
specific authority to the President to confer privileges and 
immunities in those cases in which he concludes that they are 
needed.
    START created a system of data exchanges and more than 80 
types of notifications covering movement, changes in status, 
conversion, elimination, testing and technical characteristics 
of new and existing strategic offensive arms. These data are 
confirmed through inspections under START's Protocol on 
Inspections and Continuous Monitoring Activities, which allows 
for 12 different types of inspection to be carried out under 
START. The United States has carried out more than 600 
inspections in Russia, Kazakhstan, Belarus and Ukraine since 
START entered into force. Four hundred similar inspections have 
been carried out in the United States under the treaty by 
Russian inspection teams.
    Article II, paragraph 7, of the protocol specifies some 
eight privileges and immunities that shall be enjoyed by 
inspectors under the treaty (relating to persons, premises, 
aircraft and crew, correspondence, immunity from duties, and 
similar matters). To ensure that those inspections occurring in 
the United States that had been covered by the protocol's grant 
of privileges and immunities could continue after termination 
of START and before a new treaty enters into force, section 2 
of S. 2727 would authorize the President to grant the 
privileges and immunities specified in the protocol to Russian 
officials conducting inspections in the United States in a 
manner consistent with the provisions of the protocol. Section 
3 of S. 2727 specifies that an official of the Russian 
Federation would be eligible for privileges and immunities only 
if the United States has invited the inspector to perform 
within U.S. territory an inspection or monitoring activity 
consistent with the protocol. The privileges and immunities 
would be granted only to allow for the exercise of official 
functions in relation to inspection and monitoring and would 
not be for the personal benefit of the recipient Russian 
official. There is no requirement under this bill that the 
President exercise this authority.
    Pursuant to sections 3 and 4 of the bill, the interim 
authority that S. 2727 provides would be available only between 
December 5, 2009 and either June 5, 2010, or the date of the 
entry into force of a successor agreement to START, whichever 
occurs earlier.

                           IV. Cost Estimate

    In accordance with rule XXVI, paragraph 11(a) of the 
Standing Rules of the Senate, the committee notes that this 
estimate of the costs of this legislation prepared by the 
Congressional Budget Office was not available at the time this 
report was filed.


                   V. Evaluation of Regulatory Impact

    Pursuant to rule XXVI, paragraph 11(b) of the Standing 
Rules of the Senate, the committee has determined that there is 
no regulatory impact as a result of this legislation.

                      VI. Changes in Existing Law

    In compliance with paragraph 12 of rule XXVI of the 
Standing Rules of the Senate, the committee notes that no 
changes to existing law are made by this bill.

                                  
